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Missouri Family E-NewsJune 7, 2010
 
 
McCaskill Votes for Abortions at U.S. Military Bases
 
A U.S. Senate Committee has voted to authorize abortions to be performed at medical facilities on U.S. military bases.  The Senate Armed Services Committee voted 15-12 to allow the performance of abortions at both domestic and overseas American military facilities.
 
The amendment was offered by Illinois Senator Roland Burris to the 2011 Defense Department appropriations bill.  Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill voted for the pro-abortion amendment.
 
Current federal law adopted in 1996 prohibits medical facilities operated by the Department of Defense from performing abortions except to save the life of the mother or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.  The law also forbids the use of federal funds or Department of Defense medical personnel for the performance of abortions.
 
Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi led the fight against the amendment.  "Our military base hospitals and medical facilities are there for the care of our service members and to repair their injuries.  Now we're going to use these facilities for abortions, whether they are performed late-term or for whatever reason."
 
President Clinton attempted to allow military abortions in the mid-90's before the formal congressional ban was enacted.  When military physicians and nurses refused to participate in the procedure, the administration sought to hire civilians to do the abortions.
 
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, says that he expects the same resistance from within the ranks.  "With Americans more pro-life than ever, it will be difficult to find men and women willing to destroy the next generation of U.S. soldiers.  The military was meant to combat terrorism, not perpetrate it against the unborn."
 
The Pentagon recently announced that they would begin providing Plan B, the so-called "morning-after pill," at U.S. military base health facilities.  Plan B and other so-called "emergency contraception" is known to have abortifacient qualities.
 
The military abortion issue must now be taken up by the full Senate.  We encourage you to contact your U.S. Senators from Missouri to urge them to oppose the destruction of preborn children on U.S. military bases. 
 
You can contact Senator Kit Bond by using this link:
 
You can contact Senator McCaskill by clicking this link:
 

 
Obama Declares June "LGBT Pride Month"
 
In yet another endorsement of homosexual activism, President Barack Obama has declared the month of June
"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month."
Obama has issued a formal Presidential proclamation calling upon all Americans to observe this month to honor "LGBT Americans."
 
President Obama says that "an unfinished story" in our nation's independence is the "movement for fairness and equality on the behalf of the LGBT community."  In his proclamation, the President spells out what he thinks "equality and fairness" means.
 
The President renewed his pledge to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which protects states like Missouri from having to recognize homosexual "marriage" licenses granted by other states.  The President restated his support for redefining marriage to include same-sex unions, saying that "we must give committed gay couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple."
 
Obama also declared his support for allowing homosexual "couples" to adopt children, for granting special employment rights to homosexuals, and for providing employment benefits to the homosexual "partners" of federal employees. 
 
Andrea Lafferty, executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, says the President has misplaced priorities.  "We have a nation that's facing great unemployment and economic crisis, as well as the Gulf oil spill, and what is the President pushing?  Gay transgender rights and gays in the military.  These are not national priorities."
 
Governor Nixon Signs Bill to Strengthen Missouri Drunk Driving Laws
 
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has signed a new state law designed to strengthen the state's enforcement of drunk driving offenses.  The legislation, which was approved unanimously by both houses of the General Assembly, would impose tougher penalties on intoxicated drivers. 
 
The new state statutes were drafted to address the rampant problem of repeat offenders escaping serious legal consequences for their reckless conduct.  These problems were highlighted in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch series that revealed that numerous chronic offenders continued to drive drunk without any real consequence for their crimes.
 
Nixon had made passage of stronger DWI laws one of his top legislative priorities this past session.  "This [new law] should mean that fewer families will have to answer a knock at the door in the middle of the night and learn that a loved one's life has been cut short by a drunk driver," Nixon said at the bill signing.  "We have closed loopholes that have allowed repeat drunk drivers to keep putting innocent lives at risk."
 
A major provision of the new law requires that all DWI cases involving persistent offenders must be prosecuted in state court.  The effect of that provision is to remove such cases from municipal courts, where enforcement of drunk driving offenses often proves to be lax. 
 
Motorists who operate a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .15 or more can no longer obtain a suspended imposition of sentence, where their record shows no history of an alcohol-related conviction.  The only exception is for a first offense, where the offender has the option of entering an alcohol treatment program.
 
Prior offenders who are convicted of driving under the influence will now face a minimum prison term of 10 days, and persistent offenders will be jailed for a minimum of 30 days.  Offenders have the option of participating in a court-supervised treatment program or performing community service.
 
The new law attempts to shore up a statewide problem of poor record-keeping of prior DWI offenses.  All law enforcement agencies, county prosecutors, and municipal prosecutors will be required to report arrests for any alcohol-related traffic offense to a central repository of the State Highway Patrol.  County prosecutors had claimed that many municipal offenses go unreported.
 
The new DWI language removes a provision in the current law that no breathalyzer test may be given by a law enforcement officer if a motorist who has been arrested or stopped for driving under the influence refuses to submit to the chemical test.
 
Traffic accident statistics maintained by the Missouri Highway Patrol reveal that 35,000 motorists were arrested for driving while intoxicated last year.  Approximately one-quarter of all fatal crashes on Missouri roadways last year were caused by drunk drivers.
 
The legislation adopted by the General Assembly was sponsored and spearheaded by State Representative Bryan Stevenson of Joplin.  Senator Kurt Schaefer of Columbia was the major advocate for the legislation in the Missouri Senate.
 
After a bill-signing ceremony in Joplin, Governor Nixon gave a signed copy of the measure to Greg and Kerry Freeman.  Their daughter, Christina, who was 17 at the time, was killed by a drunk driver four years ago.  The motorist, who admitted to consuming seven to eight drinks of vodka, plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.  He was sentenced to seven years in prison, but served only 120 days of "shock" incarceration, and was released with five years probation.
 
"She was three months from graduating,"  Kerry Freeman says.  "It's been four years now, and it doesn't get any better.  You live with it, or you fight, and we'll keep fighting."
 
Governor Nixon believes the the new law is the most significant action taken by the state to combat drunk driving since the blood alcohol content limit was reduced to .08 in 2001.  "Repeat DWI offenders will spend more time in jail if they don't get treatment, the most dangerous offenders will be treated more harshly, and better records will be kept to track all DWI offenders.  This is a milestone for Missouri in the fight against drunk driving."
 
We applaud the Governor and legislative leaders for working in a productive and bipartisan fashion to enact this vital life-saving legislation.
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